People who camp outside shops for the latest released phones & games

[Wahesh]

Well I did ask the great @Blue_boost to create this thread but as he didn't it's on me.

So why on Earth do people camp outside stores for the latest release of the iPhone xyz or whatever number we're up to now? Do they really find it necessary to get a sleeping bag and pillow and sleep on the pavement on a cold night rather than in their comfy bed at home all for the sake of being the first person in the country to use a new function on the phone that they will most likely never use again? Is it really worth it? I mean I know that this hasn't been happening lately with all the social distancing bullshit, but no doubt when this all blows over, it'll be on again.

What about those other geeks who absolutely must camp or lineup outside JB HI FI or EB games or whatever it is to be the first to buy a game that launches at midnight. Seriously? Are they really that desperate to play a new game that bad that it governs their life? Put it this way... I have GTA 5, however I haven't yet installed it on my PC because I have more important things to do right now - and that is a game I wanted to play for the last 7 years.

I know a guy who, when GTA 4 was released, said that his mate was one of those geeks lining up outside EB for the GTA 4 launch in Australia, and took a week off work specifically to play and finish that game, and sell it back to EB games within a week so he can achieve maximum return for the game as it was still new.

We all know who these people are, right? RENTERS. That's right, renters. They wouldn't know how to save a dollar if their life depended on it, so they waste their money on these gadgets thinking it'll escalate their standing in society up a few notches.

 

[Rodzilla]

i did this for GTA 5 because i was desperate to play that game and i was right to do so but any other situation i would agree with you

 

[Hacky McAxe]

This isn't done so much now days as it's primarily online trade/release now. Especially with Covid.

The modern thing is bot camping online. That's where an item goes on sale and within 2 seconds every item has been bought by bots and they all turn up on Ebay for over twice the price. It basically creates a fake demand to increase price.

This has happened over the last week with the releases of the RTX 3080 and 3090 Graphics Cards, the Xbox Series S/X and the PS5.

 

[Wahesh]

This isn't done so much now days as it's primarily online trade/release now. Especially with Covid.

The modern thing is bot camping online. That's where an item goes on sale and within 2 seconds every item has been bought by bots and they all turn up on Ebay for over twice the price. It basically creates a fake demand to increase price.

This has happened over the last week with the releases of the RTX 3080 and 3090 Graphics Cards, the Xbox Series S/X and the PS5.

I recall people/bots doing similar things for tickets to concerts a few years ago. They should put a cap on the amount of goods that can be bought in a single transaction.

 

[Hacky McAxe]

I recall people/bots doing similar things for tickets to concerts a few years ago. They should put a cap on the amount of goods that can be bought in a single transaction.

They tried that with the recent transactions. Limited each person to one item and found that useless as you can make an infinite amount of bots all buying one item which just puts more load on the servers and ends up crashing the websites.

I was watching 8 different websites for the 3080 launch. All 8 websites crashed right on release. When they came back up every item was sold out.

Same issue happened with EB Games on the Xbox Series X launch. The whole system crashed and stayed down for 20 minutes. During that time EB Games tweeted that all items were sold out and everyone started spamming them asking, "How could the items sell out while your website was down?"

The orders were online only and could only be bought through the one website that wasn't working.

 

[Mr Beast]

And shoes

 

[CroydonDog]

I recall people/bots doing similar things for tickets to concerts a few years ago. They should put a cap on the amount of goods that can be bought in a single transaction.

With tickets, when they appear on reseller websites, the venues/promoters etc just invalidate those tickets and reissue them i think.

Can the same sort of thing be done with games (i'm not a gamer and have no idea how the purchase of them works).

 

[Moedogg]

Blue_Boost is that you? Lol.

When is the next xbox series coming out?

 

[Wahesh]

And shoes

I remember walking past a show shop in the city one day last year. It was a rainy Friday morning and there was a group of people, huge group of people taking up the entire footpath. I had to end up walking no the road to get around them. I had no idea what they were all waiting for. Then a staff member from the shop was calling out a ticket number and that person had to make their way through the sea of humanity to get inside the shop. It was a raffle to actually be able to get into the shop and buy the shoes.

Never seen anything like it before. Reminded me of the scene in Jingle all the Way where Arny's character Howard goes ballistic over a lottery ball to buy Turbo Man lol.

Gotta post this as well...

 

[The DoggFather]

One word...

SHEEP

 

[Blue_boost]

What boils my blood is they also pay absolute top dollar for the item. Real suckers.

They camp out all night for the privilege of paying absolute too dollar. Wait a week and it's on sale for 30% cheaper

I hate to say it but not all humans are created equal . As time passes the renters are flushed out.

 

[Blue_boost]

I liken this mob to people who like to go to a restaurant and then dine out on the street , basically on the curb.. think they are hip and cool, laugh loud for everyone to hear, but get upset when teenagers drive by and egg them or if a loud motorbike Rip's past to scare them . Sit inside on a proper table with air cond, ambient music. Not like a bum

 

[Raysie]

Did the midnight release thing once with Pokemon X/Y when that came out in 2013. I think I did it because it was the first time the main series games were being released worldwide on the same day; so instead of waiting usually 6 months after Japan and sometimes North America, we got the games first before everyone. It was a cool feeling looking back making the rest of the world jealous!

These days I can't be fucked.

PS Kmart Casula was pumping on a Wednesday night at midnight lol

 

[Wahesh]

Did the midnight release thing once with Pokemon X/Y when that came out in 2013. I think I did it because it was the first time the main series games were being released worldwide on the same day; so instead of waiting usually 6 months after Japan and sometimes North America, we got the games first before everyone. It was a cool feeling looking back making the rest of the world jealous!

These days I can't be fucked.

PS Kmart Casula was pumping on a Wednesday night at midnight lol

Last bit made me laugh lol.

 

[CrittaMagic69]

I went to the PS4 launch and everyone was clapping and shit when the store opened. Anyway I went home and went straight to sleep lol.

 

[Blue_boost]

The only thing I was quick to grab was those Nintendo mini when they came out.. online only.

I sold a few on eBay double/triple price when they were sold out. More than paid for my stash. I have 2 or 3 left which cost me $0

 

[Raysie]

Last bit made me laugh lol.

All middle aged women buying clothes. Who decides they have to go buy clothes in the middle of the week in the middle of the night?

Was the scariest thing I've ever seen!

 

[MatstaDogg]

I went to the midnight launch of the Playstation 2. At the time I was working in the mall, finished just before midnight. Went upstairs to EB games and didn't even have to line up for long to pick up my console and a few games. Went home, set up the PS2, blew my load and gamed till the sun came up.

 

[The DoggFather]

Only thing I camped out for was 04 GF tickets.

 

[steve1700]

You have those guys up at 5am out the front of aldi at 5:30am on a Saturday morning to buy special buys.

I did pre order a ps5 though I wasn't sitting in front of screen pressing f5 waiting for it to go live.
pre ordered mine about 2pm